Tories take the taxes off tampons
NDP hails decision to remove HST as a ‘victory for all women’
Millions of Canadian women will get a tax break starting on Canada Day, after the federal government announced on Thursday that it’s removing the GST and HST from tampons and other feminine hygiene products.
The Conservative government has faced mounting pressure in recent months to axe the tax on tampons and other hygiene products because, say opposition parties and women’s groups, it’s a form of “gender-based discrimination.”
Now, with an election campaign looming and with a view to boosting its tax-cut credentials, the government said it’s eliminating the goods and services tax (GST) and harmonized sales tax (HST) from the products effective July 1, 2015.
The move comes a few weeks after the federal government supported an NDP motion to take the tax off tampons and related products.
“Finally, the government has listened to reason and put an end to this injustice. That is a victory for all women,” said New Democrat MP Irene Mathyssen, who tabled the original motion and still has a private member’s bill in the queue on the issue.
“This is going to help all women across Canada, and it’s going to be great for the family budget.”
Axing the GST/HST on feminine hygiene products will save consumers about $25 million a year, according to Finance Canada, which announced the change through a tax notice.
There have been multiple attempts since 2004 to pass private members’ bills that would eliminate the so-called tampon tax. Calls for the government to remove the tax have ramped up in recent months, with an online petition called “No Tax on Tampons” now having almost 75,000 supporters.
Jill Piebiak, the 29-yearold Toronto woman who launched the petition in late January, said Thursday she was shocked the government moved so quickly.
“Amazing. This is so exciting,” Piebiak told the Citizen. “It was a tax on the ways our bodies naturally function.
“It’s a discriminatory tax that unfairly burdens people and menstruators who are already in tough financial situations.”
The government promised earlier this month, when it supported the NDP motion, that it would look at removing the tax on tampons and other feminine hygiene products in a future budget. That sparked criticism that it wasn’t moving fast enough.
Finance Canada’s tax notice said it is removing the GST and HST on “a supply of a product that is marketed exclusively for feminine hygiene purposes and is a sanitary napkin, tampon, sanitary belt, menstrual cup or other similar product.”
The federal government has the ability to remove the entire HST as well as the GST in provinces where there is no HST, said Stephanie Rubec, a spokeswoman with Finance Canada.
The Conservatives made the announcement on Menstrual Hygiene Day, a global movement designed to raise awareness about access to safe menstruation products.
Politically, the move will sell well for a Conservative government that is marketing itself as the party of low taxes leading up to the Oct. 19 federal election. It could also help win support from a highly coveted electoral demographic: female voters.
Waiting any longer to eliminate the tax on female hygiene products could have left the Tory government vulnerable to political attacks on the campaign trail.
A number of female MPs in the Conservative caucus also urged their colleagues and government to move quickly to axe the tax.
Michelle Rempel, minister of state for Western Economic Diversification, said the measure is an attempt to lower the tax burden on Canadians.
“I think that this is just a very positive move for Canadian women, and it’s in alignment with our government’s record in this regard,” Rempel said.
“Regardless of gender, we’re all committed in the Conservative caucus to lowering taxes for Canadians, be it the GST, be it taxes on small businesses ... certainly that’s an issue that we all stand in solidarity on.”